Yesterday I held the inaugural class in my new workshop/studio. The class subject was sinking a simple copper bowl for beginners and was aimed at learning basic skills - working with a torch (annealing), using a jewelers saw (rounding the corners of a copper square), sanding, polishing, hammering (sinking and basic planishing) and observing soldering (adding the ring bases). We also discussed shop safety, the tools and equipment used and assembling a toolbox to take to classes.

My students were Barbara, Irma, and Nancy. I know Barbara and Irma and Nancy is a friend of Irma's so it was a friendly and relaxed class.

I started the day, before they arrived, annealing, winding, and sawing the ring bases for their bowls. The ladies arrived just before 10 am and into the studio we went! After "The Safety Discussion", the ladies stamped their initials in the center of one side - this would become the bottom/outside of the bowl. Then they learned how to use the jewelers saw to round the corners. We moved on to sanding the edges and how to make sanding sticks. I then demonstrated polishing the copper to soften all edges and to remove the scratches, while the copper was flat so there was less work to do after the bowl was formed. Then came the hammering - sinking into the custom wood forms I have had made over the years, and how to anneal in-between each round of going deeper. When each was happy with the shape and depth of their dish it was time to go to the stake stump and they learned planishing and after that I worked with each of them to solder a ring base on; I did the soldering but they assisted by watching for the flow of the solder and turning the turntable, so I could focus on heating and soldering; they also quenched their dishes and put it in the pickle. Lastly, they did a final polish and their bowls were done.

As we sat around the table, after the class, discussing what they learned they asked what they could learn next! I guess I need to start planning another class.

It is that time of year again, when Wendy over at Hammermarks has the Superbowl Challenge and this is the ninth year. ​I was going to do a fabric bowl this year but then I got busy at work and it even overflowed into my weekends so I gave up on that.

Instead I did a forged and sunk copper dish - what else!

I used a drop hammer to forge the edges and then gently sunk the middle. I used 6" square copper that is 0.125" thick or gauge 8.I then had to pickle it and gave it a good polish. It sat for a week and then began to tarnish, so I cleaned it again (yesterday) and then went into the garage to create the Red Oxide Patina. This took almost an hour with the setup, heating and quench. I let it sit and then had to polish it again to bring up the color and then put a good coat of wax on it. This morning I buffed the wax and took pictures.

I really like it but I think I heated it a bit too much. The red is deep and on the back side, without proper lighting, it look almost black. Then on the inside of the bowl, the forged areas are on the border between red and black. I still have some work to do on how to limit or prevent the black oxide from forming.

I hope you enjoy this slide video (with music!) that shows the process. ​

The fifth project is now done and I am still on track with one project per month but this one was close.

My long term goal is to make vessels with Chasing & Repousse and this was my second project that falls under this category during my AYoR. The first project, the tool canister, in this series was the first chasing on a 3-D form I had done.

This project started with a different name which was The Deco Dish but after the patina was applied, the different chased sections with the red just yelled BLOOD ORANGE.

This project also took several months complete and had many gaps in time due to other projects and workshop sneaking in.

Lessons Learned: Soldering the rim - make sure the rim is large enough in diameter to be centered on the edge of the dish, you can make it smaller but not bigger.Patina - If working with a new patina, don't learn how to "make it" just before you want to apply it. Set aside several weekends to practice the technique.

I was commissioned to make a small "thank you" present. The design is a small (3" square) sunk dish with some chasing on the inside. Originally the design was to have been repoussed but I felt that it would have looked odd, the raised design inside a small sunk area. The final decision was to just chase the design and it looks good.

What it took:

1/2 hour for design1/2 hour for inserting into pitch pot and doing the initial lining 3/4 hour for forming/annealing, repeat a few times3 hours put back in pitch pot and the chasing design1/2 hour to anneal and get back into shape1 hour to file, sand and shape corners1 hour initial polishing1 hour to make and attach ring base on bottom2 hours of hand polishing.Total: 10.25 hours and a good feeling of accomplishment

Despite it being almost a month from the smashing event, I have realized that I was still a bit hammer shy and was avoiding starting a new piece. This being Thanksgiving day, I am off from work and have no company to cook for, it seemed the perfect time to start something new.

Over my morning coffee, I pondered the question: "What would be nice to make but not too complicated so I could have a nice feeling of accomplishment?"

First Answer: Make a silver version of the Dish-J. Second Answer: Raise a simple silver cylindrical form.

For both, I started with a 3" square of 20 gauge sterling silver. One is made via sinking, the other via raising.

I have the sinking on the Dish-J completed but I have to order some 12 gauge wire for the base which means I can't really finish it until next weekend. I am part way "up" with the cylindrical form too.

When I have completed them, they will be up for sale.

I have just put the potatoes in the over to bake; I have poured myself a wee dram of Scotch and I shall resume tomorrow (it is 4:30 pm)

A few weeks ago I was demoing sinking on a scrap piece of copper that was square. I ended up with what I thought was a pretty nice little dish.

Today I got back to that design and I made my prototype, I made the dish, planished it, and then added a ring base. I had to go back a planish again since the soldering annealed the piece again (note to self: invent way to solder a base onto a vessel and NOT have the piece get annealed).

My solder job was only so-so, I was afraid of too much solder and ended up not using enough and now I have some gaps. I have to work on this more but for my sample I am ok with there being some gaps in the solder joint between the ring and the bowl.

After a good cleaning I added a patina.

Now I have to make a production piece out of silver and copper and in many sizes...I am calling it 'Dish-J'